Weeks 7 and 8

First Cold: Sometime around the end of Week 6 or so, Liam caught his first cold. Shane and I had it first, and try as we might, of course he caught it. It wasn’t a terrible first cold, but it did give us the chance to try out the NoseFrida! It sounds gross, but man does that thing work! The worst part of the cold was how stuffy he was – and how that impacted his sleep. The first time we used the NoseFrida it was like a hallelujah moment: the giant booger was gone, he was breathing, and we could all sleep! It took us a little while to figure out (again, thanks Dr. Google) that some saline solution up the nose would help. He was ok with the nose sucking the first time, but then, once the big boogers set in, I think it hurt. He still isn’t a huge fan of the process, but the saline loosens things up and he’s a happy little clam once he can breathe easy again! We also hung out in a steamy bathroom a few times (see below for the pathetic picture) to try to keep things loose in his nose and chest. Flash forward a couple of weeks and there’s still a lingering cough, but otherwise, we made it through the first cold!

First and Second Lunch Dates: Liam has been on two lunch dates so far, one with Grammy to First Watch and one with Daddy to Penn Station. Both were wonderful! He’s a pretty laid back baby – basically the completely opposite of his mommy! I’m still very nervous to take him in public. What if he cries? What if he won’t stop? He did really well at First Watch – got a little fussy but was easily soothed by Grammy. We also went at the end of lunch so we wouldn’t have disturbed anyone even if he did get a little sassy. As we ate, I noticed three other mommies with babies and figured they didn’t look any more capable than me, so why couldn’t I handle it? (That’s my strategy in so many different scenarios: I think to myself that people who are far less capable than me can handle whatever it is – why can’t I?) On our second date, he got hungry at lunch and I had to nurse him. Admittedly, this is my fear – not because I am afraid to nurse in public, but because we haven’t practiced the logistics of it enough for me to be comfortable with the maneuvers – or with nursing without my pillows (we have both a Boppy and a Brest Friend). We figured out that a wadded up blanket works well to get him in position and restaurant booths are not really the business – we both don’t fit without squishing against the table. Next time – chairs instead!

First #TargetRun: Speaking of “what if he cries?”, I got the sweats as we were checking out after his first #TargetRun because he started to fuss. I have so much anxiety over taking him into a store, especially a store that involves lingering. Auntie Emmy and I took him in his Target onesie…apparently one of their new marketing techniques is to send onesies to new moms who have used them for their registries. Smart – who doesn’t want an excuse to show off the new baby in the favorite store? We didn’t linger much, and like I said, he did well as we cruised around. He did get antsy at the end, but Auntie to the rescue – she entertained him while I checked out and we made it out the door before the full meltdown happened! I also got to experience nursing in the car for the first time once the meltdown set in. What a day of firsts! 🤦‍♀️

Groovebook: A few years ago, I saw an episode of Shark Tank that featured a product called Groovebook. The concept is pretty simple – download an app, upload your pictures, get a bound book of pictures every month for a really cheap price ($2.99 for 40-100 pictures). The “groove” cut out of the spine of the book allows the company to mail the book via media mail (aka, CHEAP). My grandparents have all remarked on various occasions that they miss out on pictures now because of how we share – if you don’t have a smart phone, you’re pretty much SOL. When it became baby time for us, I remembered the product and the conversation and downloaded the app. Now for something like $6.50 per month, each set of grandparents (the baby’s great grandparents) gets a bound book of pictures that they can either tear out or keep bound to share and store. The quality isn’t great, but it fulfills its purpose of keeping them in the loop!

Laying and Playing on His Back: This is definitely his jam! Sometime in the last couple of weeks we figured out that he absolutely loves his changing table(s). There’s something (for him) about how close he is to us, being flat on his back, free to wiggle…I really don’t know what it is, but I know he likes it! He comes to life – lots of cooing, laughing, chatting – when he’s on his changer – so much that when I’m not sure what else to do with him, that’s pretty much a sure fire way to get a happy baby (except when he’s hangry!). We also discovered that he loves his play mats. We used them for tummy time and didn’t really put him on his back on them – until we did one day and figured out – duh – that he really loves that too! So we’ve been having lots of fun with a happy, funny baby.

Wonder Week #2: I was super hesitant to tell Shane that this Wonder Week that we’re coming out of is two weeks long…a bit of a misnomer…This Wonder Week was about patterns…which I’m not sure I fully understand, but it’s like he has woken up. He has always (ok, not ALWAYS, but for a while!) been a lovely kid, but this brain growth spurt has given us a super fun baby! Like I mentioned before, he laughs, he coos, he smiles, he bats at toys, and, most importantly for the two sleep deprived parents: he seems to know us! (Thank you, God!) He also seems to look for Sadie, though that may just be my imagination. He does know what she’s all about though and preps himself for her affection when she comes around. (She is LOVING his mat time – he’s in the perfection position for her unfailing love!) One of my sister’s friends said that this is when babies start to be fun – and I couldn’t agree more! Even better, at the end of this Wonder Week, we’re finally getting some sleep! Today was the fifth night in a row of only one night time feeding. He’s been sleeping for 4.5 hours, eats for a few minutes, and then sleeps for 3.5 hours. If we go to bed right when he does, we’re almost human!

OK, I think that’s about it! He had two sports-related parties for the Super Bowl and the Olympics Opening Ceremony – we’re clearly trying to indoctrinate him early!